They exchanged uncomfortable glances for a moment before Diana drew in a breath, preparing to throw the first punch. “You… um… you don’t get out of your bedroom enough, and it makes you look ill sometimes.”
I snorted. I heard that from my mom on a regular basis. “You can go harder than that.”
“I feel bad!” Diana protested. “And I can’t think of anything to say. If you were an asshole, it’d be simple. Believe me, I’d have the insults locked and loaded.”
“You won’t ever live up to the Merlin legacy because you don’t have any magic!” Kes blurted out, prompting a brief, stunned silence.
“Kes!” Diana shoved him, her eyes wide.
He rubbed his arm, pouting a bit. “What? She said to go harder.”
I chuckled. “You’re just stating the obvious there, Kes.” Although, deep down, I felt a familiar flicker of annoyance. A flame that could be fueled into some kind of powerful emotion, with the right encouragement. Maybe more sadness than anger, but still…
Genie flipped back her long, silver-white braid. “You Purge some ugly-ass beasts, and one almost ate Huntress.”
“Not exactly an insult, but this is good. Keep it coming,” I urged, closing my eyes.
“Nobody understands your paintings. They don’t look like anything.” Kes came in with another unexpected dig. But Diana and Genie quickly undid his insult.
“That’s because you have the artistic appreciation of a mole rat,” Diana shot back.
“Art is in the eye of the beholder,” Genie agreed. “It’s about feeling and emotional response, not realism.”
I opened my eyes to find Kes gawking at them. “She said we had to insult her! I like her paintings too. They’re cool. But if I said that, it wouldn’t make her angry.”
“Oh, right…” Genie flashed me an apologetic look. “This really is hard, Persie.”
“Stick with the Merlin thing. Tell me about my shortcomings. Go.” I closed my eyes again, anxious but ready to feel some rage.
“Your mom and my dad saved the world, and you can’t even save yourself from your own creations.” Kes really had a knack for this. I heard him yelp and knew Diana had swatted him. But he’d gotten the ball rolling.
Genie’s voice chimed in, hesitantly. “Your mom knows you need to leave, but she’s not going to let you do it on your terms. She wants to make all your decisions for you. She screwed up before, and she’s still not listening to what you want.”
The flame inside me sparked. As far as triggering went, Genie had hit a definite nerve. Then again, she knew me better than anyone. My mom understood that distance was the best way of keeping Leviathan out of my head, but she’d dodged the conversation this morning. Sure, she’d said I could add my suggestions to the family pile, but would she actually agree to one of them? Survey said, no chance.
“Keep going,” I urged. This was good.
“You might not be accepted into another coven because you don’t have any magic besides Purging beasts.” Diana added a real zinger. “That’s no good to anybody. Leave it to you to develop a talent that’s worse than nothing at all.”
Kes jumped in. “People are afraid of you. They think you might unleash something that will eat everyone alive.”
“Your mom and dad don’t think you can control these Purge beasts, and I think they might be right. If you mess up, people will die,” Genie interjected. Her tone sounded wounded, like she hated saying every word. But it helped. It really, really helped.
My hands automatically balled into defensive fists. Their words were working, but I knew they would never say the whole truth. So I decided to. “Before I was even born, my life wasn’t my own. Leviathan had plans for me, my parents had plans for me. Everyone had their opinions and lies and secrets, without stopping to consult me on any of it. They put me at the bottom of the food chain. They think I’m some vulnerable mouse who can’t stand up for herself.” My eyes opened and strength rode in on a wave of building anger. “Well, they’re wrong. I’m every bit a Merlin, magic or no magic, and I’m going to do everything in my power to show them how much they all underestimated me. I’m taking control of my own life. I’m in charge of my future!”
The cold sweats crept in, and my heart palpitated wildly. Familiar pressure clenched my stomach and pushed my lungs to the limits of my ribcage. But I wasn’t going to flop forward and endure the indignity of Purging my next beast on all fours. If I wanted to prove I could stand on my own two feet, then I needed to start now… literally. I bent at the waist, doubling over, but I didn’t fall. Gritting my teeth, I forced my body to straighten.
With a howl that shook the mirrors, I flung my head back. The torrent of black smoke I unleashed shot upward in a spiraling column then arced back down to the floor, where it took on solid form. On the rear of the beast were bronzed lion legs and a flicking tail, which gave way to a huge, furry body. Eagle feet with sharp talons switched up the forelegs, the vibrant yellow talons blending into the lion fur. A proud neck formed next, leading up to an eagle head of white plumage—a strange mix of feather and mane—with two feline ears sticking out.
It was a griffin.
I gaped at it, hands shaking. Of all the creatures I’d Purged before, this one actually took my breath away. I doubted I’d ever seen anything so beautiful, and… it had come from me. Its majestic yellow beak opened in a deafening bellow, between a screech and a roar, and a crack appeared in one of the mirrors.
Just what I need—seven years of bad luck on top of everything else. I shook off the momentary awe, trying to get back in the right mindset. Beautiful as it was, it couldn’t stay here. It had a one-way ticket to the inside of a Mason jar.
Huge golden wings tipped with black shot out and flapped aggressively. Fully materialized now, the griffin saw me and ceased squawking. It bent a leg back and dipped into a bow, the same way the gargoyle had done.
I’m not your queen, and I’m not your mother. My anger took over from my astonishment as I remembered why this creature had come into being. Not its fault, sure, but not mine, either. And anger worked better than sympathy for what I needed to do next. It thrummed through my exhausted veins, giving me an extra boost of energy. Exactly what the doctor ordered.
“We have to catch it!” I yelled.
The griffin’s head shot up, its noble golden eyes narrowing in confusion. I had to suppress the faint pang of pity that struck me in the chest. Maybe it was because it reminded me of Tobe, or maybe it was because it didn’t have scales and a bad attitude. Either way, it had to be dealt with.
“On it! You get the jar and the stones while we keep it busy!” Genie jumped in front of the baffled creature. Her barrette glowed as green sparks erupted out of her. Beneath my feet, cracks appeared in the training room floor. A moment later, thick vines shot out and wrapped around the griffin, pulling it downward. Meanwhile, Diana grabbed Kes and dragged him to the edge of the room to keep him out of harm’s way.
The griffin lashed out at Genie and the vines, its sharp beak making quick work of the restraints. Lunging through, it headbutted her full in the chest and sent her sailing backward. I sprinted to her side, but she waved me away.
“You know me. It’s all good.” She jumped back up, her body crackling with a strange, bronzed energy. Her eyes transformed into burning orbs of that same bronze, and when she brought her palms together, sparks jumped between them.
Diana ran back with her palms up. Another member of the full Elemental club, it would’ve been easy to feel inferior…. but not today. She sent out a wave of Air to knock the griffin back, but it spread out its wings to catch the gust and hovered menacingly, its eyes burning with rage.
“Incoming!” I lunged for Diana as the griffin divebombed us, knocking her out of the way of its open beak.
“I’ve got it covered.” Genie let the energy build inside her before unleashing it in a fierce surge. It hit the griffin in the face, making it reel back with a screech. Sailing back, it crashed into the mirr
or. Glinting shards showered the floor, but the griffin wasn’t done with us yet. It eyed me dubiously, a quieter caw coming from its mouth. The sound made the back of my neck tingle. It was oddly recognizable, as though it wanted to understand why I was doing this.
I’m not what you think I am. I ran for Genie’s bag and snatched out a Mason jar. I grabbed the entrapment stones too, but they didn’t matter so much. I couldn’t rely on them any more than I could rely on having people around to do my dirty work for me. I had to find a way to do this on my own if I ever wanted to get out of the shadow of Leviathan… or my mom.
The griffin prepped for a charge while Diana and I got back to our feet. Genie stood ready, a matador waiting for the bull. And it took the bait, hurtling toward her on its mishmash legs. Genie opened her arms wide and let the griffin barrel into her. I winced at the impact. Nobody should’ve been able to survive it, but Genie wasn’t just anyone.
“Genie?! Are you okay?!” I gripped the Mason jar and tried to spot her in the tangle of limbs and feathers and fur.
Silence echoed back.
“She’s hurt.” Diana’s eyes widened in horror.
Just then, the griffin exploded into the air on a pulse of crackling bronze energy. It shot across the room faster than my eyes could follow and slammed into the far wall, shattering the rest of the mirrors. At the opposite side, Genie rose upward, totally unharmed and brimming with raw Chaos. She seemed to float toward the griffin, as it struggled to get up.
“Now!” Genie instructed.
I sprinted for the downed beast and shoved the Mason jar underneath its bowed head. Too weak to fight against the pull of the jar, its body disintegrated back into black smoke and twisted into the glass. I waited until all of it was inside before jamming on the lid and pulling it close to my chest.
When it was done, I turned my attention to a very glowy, very frightening Genie. I’d seen levels of this during mandatory training sessions, but I’d never seen it reach this kind of powerful peak. Most Atlanteans had the four Elemental abilities plus one extra, and the tattoos on Genie’s face represented each one. Sitting just under her right eye, the outline of an owl: her fifth ability. The Atlanteans called it “Athena’s Wrath” but we called it the Verso ability—the power to absorb energy and expel it as raw, brute force or use it to bolster other abilities. The harder she got hit, the more powerful she became.
She touched down and discharged the remaining energy into the ground with a sonic boom that nearly took down a roof beam. “I’m going to hurt tomorrow.”
“Do you ever Purge anything… smaller?” Diana laughed nervously, her eyes flitting toward Kes. He sat on the ground in total awe, gazing at Genie as if she were a rock star.
I tilted my head to the side. “I think it depends on the level of emotion.”
“Have you thought about meditation? Because I don’t want to see what comes out when you’re really pissed off.” Diana brushed some fallen ceiling dust out of her auburn hair.
I bit my lip. “Neither would I.” My gaze lowered to look at the smoke swirling inside the jar. “Which is why I need to learn how to catch these things myself. I can’t rely on people always being around.”
And they seem to want to listen to me, at least when they’re first created. So far, two of them had done that. If I could capitalize on that momentary pause to catch them, then I might really have a shot of being able to do this by myself.
“What are you thinking?” Genie panted.
I picked up her flask of water and handed it to her. “That institute you mentioned—the one with the puzzle traps?”
“The Basani Institute.” Genie nodded thoughtfully. “If we can get you a bunch of those traps, you’ll be set.”
“Basani? The place that trains the monster hunters?” Diana frowned.
“Trains them? I thought they just lived there.” My intrigue was piqued.
“They do and they don’t,” she replied. “Lots of monster hunters live there when they’re not roaming around looking for beasts, but they have this famous training program for would-be hunters. Pretty brutal entry exam, if you believe the stories.”
“That’s it! That’s what I’ve been looking for!” I jittered with excitement. “Puzzle traps sound good and everything, but I’m guessing they’d work better if I actually learned how to use them properly. If they train monster hunters, then that’s where I need to be.”
Genie joined in my enthusiasm, clapping me on the back. “And I bet they even train people how to catch monsters without magic. There are beasts that can dampen or block abilities, or even play tricks with the mind, so hunters have to be trained in non-magical techniques too.”
“Imagine what I could do with that kind of specialized training.” I grinned, hope rising through me. “It’s perfect!”
“It’s in Ireland.” Kes poked his head into the conversation.
I peered at him, feeling my stomach sink. “What?”
“It’s on this remote island near Galway. I’ve read all about it—thanks for the credit by the way, sis. You only know it exists because I wouldn’t shut up about it.” Kes rolled his eyes at her before turning back to me. “They’ve got an open entry exam the day after tomorrow, coincidentally—they hold them four times a year, so this is stellar timing.” He paused, frowning. “Well, it would be if you weren’t on parental lockdown and all. You might not be able to get your mom and dad to agree at such short notice.”
“The young one has a point.” Genie downed half her flask in one go. “Ooh, maybe you could persuade them that the Institute is the perfect distance from Leviathan.”
I exchanged a dubious look with my friend. “They won’t buy that. They didn’t mean that much distance, I guarantee. And my mom will just offer to get some of the puzzle traps for me if I tell her it’s about that.”
I’d always felt drawn to the Emerald Isle. Ireland was in my blood, as much as my Merlin-ness, a place rich with mythology and culture and mystery. My parents used to say we’d visit, but work always got in the way. Maybe it was time for a solo trip to the land of my dad’s heritage.
I fixed a firm gaze on my cousins. “You can’t say a word about this to your mom and dad. If I decide to go, you have to keep it to yourself. You know I wouldn’t usually ask you to keep secrets from them, but this is important.”
“And don’t go telling my dad either, though I don’t know why you would.” Genie chuckled, bringing some levity back to the situation. But when she turned to me again, her gaze was serious and genuine. “If you’re off on a jaunt to Ireland, I’m coming with you. After all, two heads are better than one. And seven heads are no good for anyone.”
Kes smirked. “I don’t know, I thought the hydra was cool.”
“It tried to eat you!” Diana protested.
“And that’s why you can’t say a word about it. If I don’t do this, people really could get eaten,” I pressed the point. Making this work hinged on them, especially as Kes seemed to have some Institute intel that we might need.
Diana gave a slow nod. “We won’t say anything, but you’ll have to make sure that your excuse for getting out of the SDC is watertight. If Mom and Dad come interrogating, Kes will fold like origami.”
“Hey!” He folded his arms across his chest. “You’d break before I would.”
“We both know that’s not true.” Diana grinned and looked back at me. “Seriously, it’s going to have to be ironclad. If it’s not a solid excuse, your mom will be the first to smell a rat.”
I straightened up. “Then maybe I should just tell them the truth. That I’m leaving for everyone’s sake.”
“You’re eighteen. No one can stop you,” Diana agreed.
Kes shrugged uncomfortably. “And that’s the easy part.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned at him.
He looked sheepish. “Well, you need to figure out how you, a non-magical—no offense—are going to convince the head huntswoman that you’d be a good fit for the Basani In
stitute.”
“Ah… right.” When he put it like that, my mom and dad seemed like the least of my problems.
Nineteen
Persie
The following day, we hatched our scheme… and it began with Kes. Considering that it happened to be a day full of lessons, we had plenty of time to establish our plan without having to worry about any meddling parents listening in. My mom and dad had tried to get me to take a few days off, but, good student that I was, I made a show of feeling bad about skipping out on my education and promised to run out if any Purgeness struck.
“Lunchtime means go-time.” Genie flashed me a grin. We’d tucked ourselves into a recess around the corner from the Hexes classroom, where Kes would emerge any time now. After yesterday’s encounter, it’d become obvious that my cousin was the primary expert on all things Basani, and we were on a tight deadline. But we couldn’t just knock on the door of his family’s apartment and ask to speak to him. As Kes had said yesterday, any unusual behavior would put my mom on the scent. We’d hoped to corner him earlier that morning, but it turned out Kes liked to be prompt to his lessons, getting there way too early—and that was coming from me, the queen of punctuality. We hadn’t been able to catch him.
A loud siren went off, ricocheting through the hallways of the Education Wing. Three blasts for the end of a lesson. The sound of my childhood. I wondered what life would be like without it dictating my every move, five days of the week. In truth, what would I do without all of this? The hallways, the preceptors, the friends, the people… The comfort zone of home, which I’d soon be stepping out of.
“He’s coming! But not alone,” Genie whispered, peering around the corner.
I hung back until he passed the recess, only to watch as two other kids deliberately shoved past him. They knocked him so hard that he stumbled forward, his face scrunching up as harsh laughter shot back in his face.
Harley Merlin 18: Persie Merlin and Leviathan’s Gift Page 16